A sequel to 'A Little Letter'
by ShinjucAt
Summary: Since people have asked for a MerleDilandau story...Here it is.
1. The beginning

Dilandau Albatou sighed as he crunched up the letter he had read in his hand. That had been the sixth exact same letter her had received this month and it was beginning to really annoy him.

And it wasn't just the letters, oh no, it was the fact that he hadn't met who was sending them yet.

But, right now he had more important things to worry about.

Like the guard knocking on his door.

"Come in, come in, whoever you are!"

The person who entered wasn't a guard however, it was the dragonslayer Shesta.

" Lord Dilandau, the slayers that went to destroy the town from earlier are back, and they have brought a prisoner."

The albino grinned a slight bit at the mention of the word prisoner. He liked having something new to toy with.

"Very well, take me to where they are."

"Yes, sir.

With that, the blonde slayer began leading Dilandau through the halls of the Viole to the dank and somewhat dreary dungeons. Once Shesta opened the old and rusty metal door they were both greeted by Gatty and Dallet.

The two slayers gave a respectful bow to their captain before Gatty began to read out the report he had written, out loud,"Lord Dilandau, as ordered myself and Dallet attacked the town where it was suspected the Dragon was hiding. However, before we reached the city appearently the Dragon had already been informed of our arrival. How we don't know yet. When we looked inside the lodge he was supposed to be staying at, however, we happened to stumble upon one of the Dragon's aquantences. She was pretty badly injured, though we don't know why."

Dilandau wasn't very pleased that they had let Van escape, but at the same time was delighted they had found something that could lure Van to _him._

" Very good. Now show me the prisoner." Dilandau ordered.

Dallet abliged his captain's order order and opened the cell he was standing beside.

When Dilandau looked within, he saw a small body lying on the ground with a head of red hair, tan fur, and black stripes.

_'Oh, shit'_


	2. The introduction

Disclaimer: If I owned Escaflowne Merle would get a man.

Merle had never felt so awful in her entire life. Her bones ached, she was still bleeding and all because she got into a fight with some dog-man. And afterwards Zaibach just had to attack that village.All she could remember after the attack was passing out from the smoke.

When she woke-up she had found herself in a dark and cold dungeon, and she was in a lot of pain. When she fought the dog-man her right leg had been cut against thick claws, her left wrist was broken and her right ear was ripped up considerably.

All in all, she was sweaty and covered in dirt, blood and soot.

When she found that she wasn't and couldn't go anywhere she simply started to try and clean herself up, starting with her wrist.

It hurt quite a bit to say the least, but as the blood and soot were removed she heard faint voices from out in the hall. There were only two small male voices at first, but then those two were followed by two more. Another small voice and one that sounded rather…confident.

After a brief conversation with the small voices the big voice ordered that the door be opened. When the heavy door opened a man of albino skin and fire eyes entered.

He couldn't have been more than a few years older than her, but something about him scared her terribly. The very air seemed to cease movement in his presence, and it made her fur stand on end. Not to mention he was carrying a rather large with him.

And when he looked at her he had an expression that she just couldn't put her finger on. It wasn't confusion, or anger, or frustration, more like all those expressions jumbled into one great big one. Either way it scared her shit-less.

" Who are you?"

She decided his voice was scary too, it kind of sounded like bird screams and ground-up glass to her.

" M-Merle, sir."

If she saw correctly, he seemed to get rather tense after she answered. Like he knew what she was going to say before she even said it.

" Tell the truth" He ground out the order with a heavy dose of malice as his right hand moved to the sword at his hip. Tightening against the hilt.

" I-I am."

Merle was very frighten now. And try as she might she couldn't held but quiver and move back against the wall. The pain in her body didn't seem to matter as she stared into his fire-filled eyes.

And now the sword was out and pointing directly at her, " Tell the truth."

" I'I am. I'm Merle of Fanelia, I swear on my mother's grave!"

Merle was shaking now. Shaking terribly and her heart was pounding against her ribs in an almost painful way.

Just as soon as it started however, it stopped. The man turned around and walked out the door without another word. To her or his men.

Try as she might, as the hours passed in her quiet cell, she couldn't help but think, ' Who are you?'

A/N- Questions and suggestions much appreciated in reviews.


	3. Six days

Three days had passed since the day of Merle's capture, and at the end of each day she would continue to wait and hope Lord Van would come and rescue her.

And every moon she was met with disappointment.

However she wouldn't complain about how her captors were treating her. No, actually they were kinda nice. They provided her with food and water, and two days ago the youngest slayer, known as Shesta, had even offered to help clean her ripped ear. Though she declined, saying it was just fine.

That was a lie, however, considering that whenever she moved or touched it, it throbbed and dripped blood all over her.

Today, the sixth day of her capture however, Shesta wasn't letting up and had even brought a bar of soap, a bottle of medicine, and a small towel with him.

At the moment he and another slayer, known as Gatti, were trying to keep her still to clean the infection.

" Please Miss Merle, we need to clean that ear. It's dangerous to let it stay like that." Shesta pleaded with the young cat girl as Gatti tried to hold her from behind.

Merle simply replied with hissing and said in a very deep growl," Let me go! I don't want a couple of Zaibach goons trying to fix me up when I didn't even ask for their help!"

" That may be true, but our captain told us to make sure nothing happens to you while he's away. Now letting you get sick or die is letting something happen to you and if that happens me and the other slayers will be in a lot of trouble. So please stop wiggling or I'll have to sedate you." Gatti explained, tightening his grip on the girl a slight bit.

Merle considered the boy's words. True, she probably could get sick and die from this wound, and these two did seem very nice…

"…Fine you can clean it. Just don't scrub it too hard, and if I see one needle I'll claw your eyes out."

She could see the smile on Shesta's face as she went limp in Gatti's arms.

As they cleaned her up Shesta tried to make light conversation with the small girl with the girl who had entrusted him with cleaning her up," So Merle-san, where do you come from? I've never seen a cat person before."

" I grew up in Fanelia, but was born somewhere completely different. I'm not exactly sure where though…" Merle replied with as much niceness she could muster since he was using the medicine and it stung like hell.

" You don't know where you really come from?" Gatti questioned, voice chalk full of interest as Merle's ear had foam rolling off it from the medicine.

" Huh-uh. My parents were killed and I almost drowned in the river the murderers threw me into. And don't quite remember much after that except I was saved by a knight called Balgus."

Merle really didn't feel good now. The fumes from the medicine were making her very tired and she felt like she was gonna hurl.

" Are you alright Merle-san? You don't look so-"

Shesta didn't get to finnish his question as Gatti quickly grabbed a nearby bucket and put it in front of her face. Merle then began to empty what contents were in her stomach into the more than welcome bucket.

Once Merle was done emptying herself, she immediately passed out on top of Gatti.

" Guess she's already sick."

" What do we do now?" Shesta asked wiping some 'stuff' off of Merle's mouth.

A/N: What do ya know, I up-dated. Review to find out more.


	4. Move it

A/N: I am unbelievably sorry for not up-dating for such a long time! But, hopefully this will make up for it.

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Dilandau had never in his short sixteen years of life had been faced with something like this. Never would have have wanted to be.

First he gets letters from someone he's never met in his entire life. Love letters. And then said someone just lands in his lap, injured and without anywhere else to go. Supposedly, anyway.

And that wasn't the worst of it, so far. No, now he had to decide what to do with her. He couldn't let Fulken find out about her, he might tell the sorcerers. And he couldn't very well let her wander the Vione and have everyone wondering about her. Killing her was looking rather appealing, but for some odd reason that he fathem didn't really want to kill her.

No, he was too curious to kill her. Yet.

"So what the hell am I supposed to do?!" The albino suddenly exclaimed to absolutely nobody, just to his dark and empty room.

Shaking himself from his thoughts, he became aware of the quick footsteps nearing her room.

No sooner than two seconds later there was a knock on the door. Three knocks, actually. All in a frantic row, "Lord Dilandau, are you in there? It's Shesta."

"Come in."

The young slayer didn't have to be told twice. He opened the door and shut it just as quickly. Turning towards Dilandau, the blonde gave a bow, quickly, but still with respect. When he stood back up, the red eyed captain could tell he had something important to say, but was trying to find the right way to say it, so he would look proffesional-ish.

"Lord Dilandau... it's about Miss Merle."

"What about her?" The captain questioned using a voice not too forcefull, but not extraordinarily gentle either.

"Well, Gatty and I were cleaning her up in the dungeons like you told us to and, well, she got sick and passed out from the medicines affect. She's also running a light fever." Shesta explained, keeping his guard up in case the albino was angered and tried to hit him.

Dilandau didn't hit him, though. He just stood and gave a thoughtful look.

"And what exactly do you want me to do?"

"W-well, sir... Gatty and I wanted to know if maybe we could move her to one of the private rooms and clean her up there. After all, you said that Dallet, Gatty and myself couldn't tell anyone else about her and I don't think treating her in the dungeons would be such a good idea."

Contemplating the slayer's words in his head a few times the albino captain nodded, giving the 'okay' that the blonde desired.

"Thank you lord Dilandau! I promise we'll be carefull when we move her."

"I know you will. I'm coming to make sure you do." Dilandau replied, moving toward the door as the blonde fully took in the eleven words that had been uttered from his commander's lips. A slightly anxious look planting itself upon the blonde's face as he followed the other out of the room.

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Back in the dungeons Gatty was looking over Merle as she slept, figuring that he could make better progress fixing her as she slept than he ever could when she was awake.

The damage she had sustained before he and Dallet had found her was actually relatively light except her right leg, right ear and left wrist. The leg had little pieces of glass stuck inside of it where the skin was parted from jagged claw marks which had crusted over with blood and dirt. Her ear was still trobbing and occasionally leaked blood when touched, now it had foam forming around it because of the medicine. Green foam that reminded him of the kind you might see in a river in the middle of fall.

As for her wrist, well, it would take some time for that to heal properly. He winced as he popped it back into place, some of her skin moving out of place as the bone that was previously poking out of it slid back in. If he wasn't trained to handle this sort of thing in the field he actually might have gotten sick by just looking at her.

"You poor thing. You should have let us fix you up sooner." He scolded the sleeping girl in a light voice as the door to the dungeons opened, revealing not only Shesta, but also his captain. Both were holding what looked like blankets.

"Lord Diladau, what are you doing here, sir?" The second in command asked as he slowly raised to a standing position. Giving a bow in greeting and respect.

"Well, Gatty, I'm here because you both suggested we move the girl to another room."

"Sir, we don't have to if you say-"

"I said yes." Dilandau said, moving toward the slayer and the girl by his feet.

Gatty took a moment to stare at his captain in amazement as the albino lifted Merle into his arms, carefull not to disrupt any wounds that the secong in command might have already bandaged.

"We're going to move her into the room right across from both of yours. Nobody is currently occupying it and as for as I know that room hasn't been set foot in for at least two years. I don't know why that is, but as far as I'm concerned-"

"It's perfect!" Shesta complimented, clapping a hand over his mouth at the realization that he had interupted his commanding officer.

Gatty didn't say a thing, simply nodding in agreement of lord Dilandau's plan. He and Shesta would be close enough to reach her if needed, and if one of the other slayers saw them exiting the room they'd simply think that they'd entered the wrong room. It truely was a brilliant plan.

"However," Dilandau added, wrapping Merle in a blanket, "First we have to get her out of this dungeon without anyone seeing her. So you two will have to walk ahead of me and make sure that if anyone's too close that they're distracted when I pass."

Shesta and Gatty nodded with agreement, following their captain to the door as the albino added one more blanket to Merle, making her look like a sack of potatoes from far away.

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As Dilandau and his two partners in crime made their way to the apointed destination the white skinned commander contemplated why he had decided to do something so... kind. It just wasn't like him. He was a known killer in the Zaibach empire and yet he was being K.I.N.D. to a complete stranger.

'What the hell is wrong with me?' Dilandau questioned himself, letting out an unheard sigh of frustration as the trio rounded the corner.

Only to be seen by Miguel.

"Lord Dilandau, I've been looking for you, sir." The umber haired young man said giving a bow as he said the words that could set the trio's plan astray.

"What for?" The caiptain said still walking, not even slowing his pace so Miguel could catch up. It was what he usually did, so the slayer wouldn't become curious of his behavior. Aside from the large bundle in his arms, Dilandau was acting pretty normal.

"Well your lordship," Miguel started gaining pace with his albino captain, "It's about the trouble with your guymelef. It seems that the mechanics will have to remove the flamethrower for a short time to see if any of the problems are caused by it. Also they're keeping the 'melef out of action until they get it fixed entirely."

"So, in other words, I can't go into the field for awhile." It was a statement and they all knew it. Inside Dilandau was pissed, but as the words escaped his lips he only sounded bored.

"Yes sir." Miguel said, slightly disapointed that he couldn't be with the caiptain in battle. He perked up, though when he realized that Dilandau was carrying a bundle that looked rather heavy and that the two blonde slayers following from behind were looking rather nervous.

"Lord Dilandau, would it be terribly rude of me to ask what the thing your carrying is?"

'How's he going to get out of this one?' Both Gatty and Shesta thought at the same time as the caiptain and brown haired slayer rounded another corner, the blondes speeding up a little.

"It's a sack of potatoes. What else?" Dilandau answered sounding relatively annoyed as he answered Miguel's question.

"But, why are you carrying it when you have Gatty and Shesta to do it for you?"

"It's to build my upper body strength. Better than lifting weights and it's better than listening to Fulken harp all day long."

"Wow, lord Dilandau is really good at this lying thing." Shesta whipered to the blonde next to him, Gatty nodding in agreement.

"He has to be." Gatty replied, his blue-green eyes flashing as the commanded seemed to quicken pace with each step he took. Needless to say it looked as though he was trying very hard not to just run from Miguel, dump the girl and get this little "mission" over and done with.

"Is there any thing else you need?" Dilandau asked Miguel irratably as they turned yet another corner. 'How many halls are you going to follow us through any way?!'

"Oh not really sir, it's just a pleasure to be in your company." Miguel replied, trying his hand at flattery.

"Don't try and suck up to me Miguel. It doesn't suit you."

"Access denied." Shesta joked quietly, restaining himself from giggling. He kinda felt sorry for the older boy, he was practically a friend of Dilandau's after all.

"Okay, then. Is there any thing I can get you before I leave your company, though?"

"Actually, yes there is. Go down to the wine room and get me something with a bite in it. I've got a headache coming on, but don't be too quick. And don't forget, I like this deep red stuff in the back. And when you're done with that go to the kitchens and get some hot meat, I haven't eaten either." Dilandau wasn't entirely lying now, he was getting a headache and wine always seemed to help that. The food wasn't totally nessassary, but what the hell, it would keep him away for a while.

"Yes, sir. I'll be back in a moment." Miguel bowed once more and was off, nodding to his fellow slayers as he passed.

When all three were sure that the brunette was in the next hall and well out of ear-shot they all gave a sigh of relief. He hadn't gotten suspicous.

"That was really good acting lord Dilandau." Shesta complimented, both the blonde slayers up beside their captain as they neared their destination.

"Yes, I think I did rather well." The albino said, sarcasm dripping off of every word, "Now the next person who tries to intercept me, get's to deal with you two."

The two blondes nodded, fully aware of the obvious threat that if they didn't help Dilandau out with the next problem they were seriously going to get it later. They didn't want that. Certainly not.

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Fate seemed to be on the trio's side though, because they got to thier destination before they could be intercepted again.

The inside of the room in which they were to keep Merle was actually pretty nice. There was a lot of dust everywhere, but there was also a large bed with the silk blankets and sheets still on it, along with two large fluffy pillows. There were no windows, but plenty of candles that were practically screaming to be used. A large black book-case resided to the left of the room, filled with many types of books, paged yellow from age. No bathroom. That would be a problem, but the boys would deal with that when the time came.

As Dilandau set the small cat-girl on the bed, the two slayers either were guarding the door or were lighting a candle so they could see.

While they did that, Dilandau took the chance to study the girl.

She was actually pretty small, but when she laid down she looked the slightest bit taller, but only by a couple inches at most. She couldn't have been much older than fourteen.

'She looks kinda...cute.' Dilandau decided, mentally kicking himself for the thought.

'Lord, this is going to be strange when she wakes up.'

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A/N: Okay, that's the end of this chapter, but I hope to get the next one up rather soon.

I'd like to thank CampionSayn and MyLuvlyRiku for beta-ing this for me. And I'd also like to thank Macky, Valinor's Twilight, EscaPhan225, Nikushimi no Ai, Katt Anne Kindel, Kamikaya, Casa Circe, and Dilandau-is-My-Boyfriend for their wonderfull, wonderfull reviews that kept me writing this.

And to all you reading this, REVIEW.


	5. Wake up!

A/N: Okay, well appairently not that many of you liked the last chapter. Too short?

Disclaimer: I don't own nothin'.

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_Cold and watery concrete were the unwelcomed things that awakened the young cat girl's senses to her surroundings. She didn't know where she was and it was too dark in that strange room to be entirely sure._

_"Lord Van? Are you here?" She whispered desperately trying to find some common ground._

_Nothing but the echo of her own afraid voice bouncing off the walls greeted her._

_She tentatively move forward. Deeper into this strange and frightening darkness._

_And then pure and absolute pain encircled her being. Fire of the likes she had never seen spurted from beneath her feet like water. Crawling slowly up her body leaving scorch marks._

_When it finally reached her arms she screamed._

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Dallet suddenly sat up from his seat near the door where he had been guarding the young cat girl, rushing over to the bed as the small girl tossed and screamed inside of her blankets like she was being tortured with a hot knife.

He had to somehow get her to stop this. She was soon going to alert the whole hall of her presence soon and that was something Dilandau had explicitely ordered not happen.

"Miss? M'am? Wake up! You're just having a bad dream. Wake up!" He begged as she continued to scream and wrestle with the blankets that kept her confined.

Sighing in frustration, the dark haired slayer grabbed onto the sheets and pulled them out from her, leaving nothing but the girl and the covers. Next to follow was the blankets, and finally when there was nothing left but her screaming Dallet grabbed one of the downy pillows and brought it down on her with one swift blow.

"Wake up, damnit!"

She stopped. Well, relatively so. She still wimpered just the slightest bit, but it wasn't even noticable.

Her eyes opened slowly, and she blinked away the tears that remained in her eyes. Looking around she expected to be back in the dungeon, she wanted some of the milk the two blondes usually left her. That always helped her calm down after a night of terrors in her sleep.

But there was no bowl of milk. No dungeons and no familiar blondes nearby. Just a bed barren of any sheets or blankets or even pillows, a room she didn't remember falling asleep in and some brunette who wore the two familiar blondes uniform.

"Who are you and where the hell am I?" Merle asked, nonchalantly licking her right wrist to take her mind off the left one. She notted it had bandages on it today.

'Oh, that's right. Gatty and Shesta were fixing me up before I passed out.'

The brunette seemed stunned for a second as he watched Merle look herself over, noting all the bandages that adorned her body.

"I'm Dallet and I'll be your guard for the night. You're in an un-used room. We had to move you ya' see. We couldn't keep you in the dungeons anymore out of risk for infection." 'Among other things.' He added mentally.

Merle nodded, slowly moving off of the bed only to land in the pile of sheets and other bed things that Dallet had left on the floor in his haste. It reminded her of a kind of nest, and she chuckled at the thought.

"I'm afraid we can't allow you to leave the room, but there is some food that we brought up from the kitchens if you're hungry." Dallet continued, watching the younger teen as she limped from one interesting thing to another.

Observing her actions, he noted that one ear drooped in a downward angle, some of the flesh missing caused her to look like a sort of lop-eared rabbit. Her limp wasn't serious. And her wrist, well, only time would tell.

"So why are you Zaibach soldiers keeping me alive? I mean, with all you're homicidal actions through out the province I'd imagine by now you'de have killed me. So why am I here?" Merle asked, her neutral tone unnerving Dallet as she spotted the food he had spoken of earlier. Cooled meat that had been cooked. Deer meat if she wasn't mistaken.

As she bit into some of the meat, Dallet pieced together what he had gathered from his talks with Gatty and Shesta about the girls supposed fate.

"We're not soldiers who are keeping you prisoner. We're Dragonslayers keeping an eye on you. As for your fate, well, Lord Dilandau still hasn't decided just what to do with you yet. Simply put, you're not to be harmed while in our charge."

"Who's this Lord Dilandau, anyway? I always hear you talking about him, but I don't think I've met him yet."

Dallet looked confused, "But, you met Lord Dilandau on your first day here. Don't you remember?"

"I remember meeting Gatty, Shesta and some albino who pointed a sword at me."

"That was Lord Dilandau. I'm afraid he's not very good at first impressions." Was he apologizing for his captain's behavior? He wasn't sure himself. It sure seemed like he was.

Merle nodded, remembering how the two blonde slayers had acted around the frightfull looking boy with those red eyes and pale moonlight skin. And that scar. If she remembered correctly, her lord Van had given this 'Dilandau' that scar.

"Is he, perchance, just the slightest bit mentally unbalanced?" She asked, holding her right hand up to squeeze her thumb and index together and then part them just the slightest bit.

"If he is that's really none of your concern." Dallet replied and answered in a sharp tone of voice, straightening up uncomfortably. She had no idea how close to right she was. He was, in Dallet's opinion, unbalanced just the slightest bit, yes. But he was also a good captain to his slayers.

"So, that's a 'yes'." She concluded, swallowing the last of the meat in her mouth.

Dallet sighed in annoyance, moving back over to his leather seat by the door. Standing up all night wasn't going to help him watch her. Might as well get comfortable.

Moving onto the floor, Merle stretched as best she could with her injured leg and laid down as a small tabby cat might on a warm sunny day. Her legs sprawled out behind her and her hands stretched infront of her, left hand atop the right. All regal looking.

Her eyes wandered around the room, taking in every detail.

It really was quite a grand room. The books that lined the shelves to her left reminder her of the library in Fanalia and Millerna's home. There weren't any windows, but that didn't mean a whole lot to her. Windows were meant to show landscapes and sunlight and she didn't really think the Vione, as the slayers had called it, show cased a whole lot of that.

The only thing that she couldn't seem to find was...

"Hey, where's the bathroom?"

The question it-self was inocent enough, but Dallet's blush didn't seem to think so, "There isn't one in here."

"So what did you guys expect me to do? Crap in a bucket? Because if you did, you're surely mistaken. I have more dignity then that!"

"N-No! It's just that we thought there would be one in here, but there isn't. So when you have to... you know, then we were just going to take you across to one of our rooms. We're right next door, you see." Dallet explained, his blush growing from a nice pink to full-blown crimson.

"You're right next door?" She asked, leading away from the previous subject, the poor teen looked so uncomfortable with it.

"Yes. Me, Gatty and Shesta live in that room and about one hall away is where the other elite slayers reside. We can't let them see you though. Lord Dilandau hasn't explained as to why yet."

"This 'Dilandau, how old is he?" Merle asked out of the blue, her tail flickering back in forth.

"Huh? Oh, I think he's about sixteen." Dallet answered truthfully, looking at the girl as she looked rather absorbed in his words, contemplating something he couldn't descern, "Why?"

"Oh, it's just that I couldn't imagine him being younger than seventeen. He is your captain after all. And I'm only fifteen myself, yet I can't even use a sword, yet he's onle a year older and he's the captain of a military group. He must be quite impressive on the field."

"He is." Dallet agreed with affection in his voice. The captain was the most skilled swordsman of his generation. And a terrific instructor to those under his command. His methods were harsh but the result of most of his endevors ended rather well. When Dallet himself was taken under the albino's wing, he learned more than he ever could at all the other Zaibach training institutes.

Suddenly a thought struck Dallet.

"Wait, you're fifteen?"

"Yeah." Merle answered staring at him as if to say 'duh'.

Dallet leaned forward studying her more carefully, making her feel a little self-conscience.

"What are you looking at?" Her fur stood on end as he stood up and walked toward her, arms crossed over his chest.

"I'm sorry. It's just that when me and Gatty found you, we both thought that you were just a little kid that couldn't be much older than twelve. And Gatty never supplied me with any information to suggest other-wise..." He explained, crouching down next to her to try and measure how tall she might be.

Merle didn't take this very kindly. Sure she was small for her age, but Lord Van had't gotten very tall himself until he turned fourteen. She still had plenty of time to get taller. And what was this about her looking like some twelve year old?!

Growling low in her throat she stood up and looked down at him in annoyance, "I am so fifteen!"

"I never said you weren't." The brunette replied, standing up himself. At full height she only reached up to his chest. This seemed to fuel her annoyance, for her fur stood up on end.

'Poor thing. Maybe I shouldn't have said anything.' Before the oak haired teen could apologize the small- er, the height impaired girl limped over to the book shelf and reached atop it. He hadn't noticed before, but on the top most shelf there were quills and ink, dusty but looked still usefull.

Grabbing said items, the stawberry haired girl dabbed a quill into the ink and moved over to the far wall where she proceeded to stand against it and draw a line just above it.

"What in Gaia are you doing?!" Dallet shouted objectively, moving over to the girl as she put her finger to her lips.

"Shh. Don't make so much noise, you'll wake up the neighbors." She said teasingly.When the boy got close enough, she pushed him flat against the wall and proceeded to draw a line directly above his own head.

At a much lower decibal, Dallet repeated, "What in Gaia are you doing?!"

"Measuring myself to see how tall I am." She replied simply, writing her name next to her line and his name next to his.

The results didn't really help. She was a good foot and three inches shorter than him. Even standing on her tip-toes she was so much shorter than him.

He actually felt soory for her. He himself had been rather short when he was younger. It wasn't until he was fourteen that he got a sudden and ever so slightly painfull growth spurt.

Dallet didn't say anything though, afraid that another mood swing from her could lead to ink all over the floor and that was not something he needed to deal with. Lucky for him, she simply went over to the bed and curled into a comfortable ball.

Within minutes he had put the ink and quills back and had settled back into his leather chair. She was asleep and as he observed her, he couldn't help but smile just the sightest. She was quite the brave little thing. She wasn't afraid to talk to a trained a killer about things as serious as herself being killed or tortured or things so just plain weird like height. Or things so dangerous, like his captain.

Making sure not to make much noise, Dallet got up and moved the blankets from the floor and set them gently upon her.

The sun rose, but he couldn't tell. When the other slayers came down the hall to get him break-fast, Dallet would tell them about the girl they were to watch over.

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A/N: Well, that's the end of that chapter. What do ya know? I got this one up in a good five hours. Ain't that somethin'?

Read&Review and please no flames.


	6. Another Slayer chapter

Disclaimer: If I owned anything I'd be on a beach down in Florida.

Note: I'm sorry for not up-dating for so long!

* * *

The sound of a hundred or so voices echoed off of the dining hall walls of the Vione, all the young men talking of sword technique and anything that might have to do with their duties.

Farther down, rather close to the front where the captains sat, three slayers sat awaiting their other friends to come.

Miguel yawned lightly. He had never been a morning person and the noise produced from a hundred males at breakfast always, always, always gave him a headache. Plus, he never got to use the shower before breakfast. Viole and Guimel usually got to it first, meaning he couldn't use it until the evenings. This might have been why Miguel never left a good first impression on anyone.

Lifting his fork, the darh haired male examined the food that was distributed to all the Dragonslayers. Something that might not be classified by science. Wonderful.

Beside him, Guimel carried rather the same feelings, looking over the food very carefully before even considering putting it in his mouth.

"These are potatoes, right?" The fluffy haired blonde asked, lightly turning the fork so the... gravy?... wouldn't fall off.

"Maybe." Viole replied," But, when in doubt add more salt."

"Isn't that bad for you?"

"It can be. But if you keep drinking fluids you're fine... I think."

Maybe, Miguel should have skipped breakfast and gone to training early?

* * *

Old windows with bits of webbing from long dead spiders let in early morning light on to a bed where Dilandau slept. Bits of glass from broken bottles and vases decorated the floor, capturing the light that hit the ground, illuminating his room.

No one, not even the cleaning service went into Dilandau's room unless ordered directly, which was probably why it always looked like a twister had ripped through it. Papers scattered every which way, traces of ink all over the floor. The only thing that looked relatively stable in the room was the bed.

And in that bed, with the soot black covers thrown about, Dilandau slept in relative peace. He didn't look angelic by any means when he slept, but at least he didn't look as unbalanced or psychotic as he normally did, so there was a start.

Feeling the sunlight touch his silver skin, Dilandau's eyes twitched, opening only slightly to make for certain that it was morning and not just Fulken with some candle coming to get him for a meeting.

Discovering that the sun had indeed risen into the sky, the ruby eyed male groaned, forcing himself into a sitting position. The soft feel of the covers slipped from around him, the air too cold for the morning, causing little bumps to form along his skin.

But, before he could fully adjust to the light or the cold, a horrible knocking began at his door, heavy and making his sensitive ears pound.

"What?!" He roared in the general direction of the door, the knocking ceasing rather quickly, to Dilandau's delight.

"L-Lord Dilandau, may I come in?"

Identifying the voice to belong to Dallet, Dilandau sighed, getting up to unlock the large, heavy dead-bolt he had put on the door last week. Quite a useful thing, He hadn't been disturbed while he napped, thanks to it.

Opening the door, he was saluted by the dark haired slayer before Dallet came in, an air of tiredness circling him.

"Was there a problem with our little 'guest', Dallet?" The silver haired captain asked, getting to business. Pleasantries could wait for later, after Dilandau had coffee. Black as pitch, coffee.

"No, sir. It's just that... Well, Gatty and I have to train the new trainees and Shesta has to go to the cargo with Lord Fulken and see what we need to stock up on. There's no one to watch the girl... so, we were wondering what you'd like us to do, sir."

The light headache that had been forming in the back of Dilandau's head suddenly became more pronounced as Dallet informed him of this situation. Of course, his Slayers had their duties to attend to and if the girl was left alone it could screw them all over by her escaping or some idiot opening the door to the room. Dilandau knew for a fact that the locks to those doors sucked, any idiot could open it with a piece of metal or a pen, they were so shitty.

Stalking over to his small but tasteful wardrobe, the captain with the red as blood eyes made his decision. Hopefully, he wouldn't regret this later.

"Is anyone with her right now?"

"Yes, sir. Shesta's keeping an eye on her."

"Is she asleep?"

"When I left she was, but she might have awakened by now. Why, sir?"

"I just need to know what I'll have to look forward to when I watch her until you all get back."

Pulling on his thick boot, Dilandau noted the semi-shocked look Dallet was giving him. He couldn't help think that the dark haired male was right for thinking whatever he was at the moment. Usually Dilandau never volunteered to go out of his way like this.

* * *

Within the confines of the windowless room which held the sleeping cat girl and light haired Slayer, Shesta observed the marks she had put on the wall only a few hours ago. The ink had dried with the indentations of Merle's fingerprints in it, giving it a very cute look to it.

The lines were at least a foot away from each other and Shesta couldn't help but grin as he observed Dallet's name on the higher one. The dark haired male must have been so embarrassed when this had happened. Dallet wasn't prone to handle females very well. From what Shesta knew about him, the brown haired male had spent a large chunk of his life in a convent, hardly seeing women, let alone speaking with them.

Of course, from what Dallet had told him when the smaller boy had brought breakfast, Dallet had enjoyed thier furry charge. She had even asked if Lord Dilandau was a psycho!

Turning back to where the smaller being was sleeping, curled up in a ball on the bed, Shesta let a small smile creep upon his face. Such a brave thing, maybe if Lord Dilandau didn't order her death they would get a bit closer. She seemed pleasant enough, at least, when she wasn't irritated from her wounds.

"Yes. I think you'd be good for us." He uttered, lightly rubbing his fingers against the bit of white fur at the end of her tail. Soft. Reminded him of Guimel's hair.

Removing his hand, Shesta's ears perked lightly, listening as footsteps came closer to the room. Heavy. Two people, maybe.

Clutching his sword, but not drawing it, the blonde Slayer made his way against the wall, ready, just in case.

The knob rattled, with the sound of metal scraping against metal. A key.

And then the door opened. But, before Shesta could draw his sword, the silver head of his captain emerged, followed quickly by Dallet, the door shutting and locking behind.

"L-Lord Dilandau!" Shesta exclaimed, quickly bowing to the silver male as he took in the room, and the girl.

"At ease, Shesta." Dilandau said, a bored tone in his voice, almost like a signal that this would hopefully be a situation that Shesta could get out of without a red cheek mark.

"What are you doing here, sir?"

"I've come to watch over the girl. Dallet has informed me that you all have duties to attend to. So, get going!" It was an order, simple and plain, and Dallet and Shesta didn't have to be told twice.

Giving one last look towards Merle, Shesta and Dallet saluted Dilandau and left the room, both hoping secretly that when they got back from their duties she'd still be alive and Dilandau would be in a semi-decent mood.

* * *

Again, so sorry I haven't up-dated in forever. The next chapter will hopefully be longer.

R&R!


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